Too Late
by One Fujoshi Otaku Among Many
Summary: She taught him how to use magic. She helped him throughout almost everything. She was always there-but he never noticed her. Not till it was almost too late.


He was floating. He was floating and he had nothing to ground him. Why had he never noticed her? He had been so blind. He could only hope that it wasn't to late to fix things. He hesitated before entering the dark den. She was the only living creature in the small, dark abandoned fridge. That is, if she was till living. He paused for a moment, listening, praying with every fiber of his being. For what felt like an eternity, he heard nothing. Dread began to fill his heart, until he heard the sweet sound of her breathing. He made his way over to her pallet. It had been a week. A week since she had jumped in front of him to save his life, possibly giving hers in the process. A week since he had held her in his arms, trying to stem the flow of blood from the gash that tore open her chest, staining her fur as red as Bombalurina's. A week since she had looked at him as she lay, her blood pooling on the ground, smiled and whispered in that beautiful voice of hers 'I love you. I always have. Always will. Remember me.' A week, he had to wait, before her brother would even begin to think of letting him near her. A week.

Far too long in his opinion. He had nearly gone crazy with worry. He hadn't been able to eat. The food turned to dust in his mouth. His stomach clenched at the thought of what he had done to her. Every time he closed his eyes to try to sleep as Munkustrap had ordered, all he saw was M-that _monster's_ claws slashing at his throat, then _her_ jumping in front of him,voicing a wordless cry of despair at the thought of the one tom who was _everything_ to her dieing. It had gotten so bad that Jenny had gone against Coricopat's wishes and let the poor tom in. She knew that he had to do this, or he might kill himself with grief. With shame.

He sank to his knees next to her, his eyes glued to her still face. He slowly raised his hand and stroked the side of her face. A strangled sob burst from his throat as memories flooded through his mind. He collapsed, tears running endlessly down his face. He welcomed the loss of himself in memories.

_The small tom could have gone and joined the others. He _could _have gone and and volunteered to be It in the kittens game of tag. He could have, but he was far to shy. He knew that he only looked like he was three days old, when he actually was six months. He also knew that he was a freak. He was afraid of being ridiculed for it, hated for it like his family had hated him. He had practically no self-esteem. It had been striped away from him when his family had dragged him to a park and abandoned him, telling him he was a good-for-nothing freak who would be doing everyone a favor if he just died. He almost had, until the silver and black tabby and found him and saved him. Until he had woken up in a oven, with a marmalade tabby tom leaning over him. When the tom saw his eyes were open, he grinned from one ear to the other and called for jelly. He then turned back the the young tom-kit and asked in a heavy Scottish burr as to where his family was. Two queens entered just in time to hear the kitten break down and sob out most of the story of his abandonment, leaving out the reason why. The young black and white tuxedo had recovered well, but still never played with the others. He had been labeled anti-social, and probably would have stayed that way, if he hadn't bee rescued by a most unlikely person. The Rum Tum Tugger._

"_Yo, kit, I've never seen you before. What's your name?"_

_The kitten looked up at the tall maned tom with wide eyes. This strange cat was _talking_ to him! He wanted to know his name! The kitten managed to stutter out a name, unknowing that every word was being heard by everyone else._

"_M-my name i-is Quaxo. At, least, that is my first name. My mother gave it to me because she said it meant, in her native language, 'useless,' 'runt,' and 'mistake,' depending on how it was used. And everyone in my family agreed that it described me perfectly. My second name is Mistoffelees, and I much prefer to be called Misto, if that is alright."_

_Misto ducked his head, expecting a cuffing for giving his own opinions, but nothing happened. When he looked up, he saw that the maned cat seemed angry. The tom looked at the silver and black tabby, who also looked mad. The kit involuntarily whimpered and pressed himself to the ground, expecting he was going to be beaten. But one of the other kittens came forward and helped him stand up. He looked at her with confusion swimming in his eyes. The young queen-kit smiled and explained. _

"_They aren't mad at you, just at your family for what they did to you. My name is Tantomile. If you want, you can play with us. All of us kittens, I mean."_

_The young tom perked up immediately at this. "Really?" He asked with undisguised eagerness and joy in his eyes. All of the kittens nodded. That was the beginning of Misto's new life. _

Time Lapse

_It had been some time since Misto was accepted. He had kept his magic secret, a rather big feat since he had no training, no control. It was a summer night. Tumblebrutus had dared Admetus to climb the tallest pile in the Yard. It was the ultimate challenge since the pile was rather unstable. Meatus had made it about halfway when he fell. If he had landed, he would have died. But, about three feet from the ground, he stopped. He was just floating in the air. All of the others turned to Misto, who had his eyes covered. He slowly peaked, then stared at Admetus. He looked at his hands in horror, then turned and fled from the clearing. Tantomile was the only one to follow him. She finally found him sitting in an old dirty oil drum, tears falling down his face. She sat down, but said nothing. It was Misto who broke the silence._

"_When do they want me to leave?"_

"_They won't. No one is going to want you to leave because you have magic powers. In fact, they will try everything they can think of to stop you from leaving. You will probably be a lot more popular now. You don't have to worry. Do you have any training? If not, I can teach you. Me and Cori have powers too. Meet me here tomorrow and we will start teaching you. Even though Cori won't want me to come, I will. See you tomorrow, Misto."_

_And thus began the lessons._

Time Lapse

_He had grown up. He was now a full tom. She couldn't help but watch him as he would perform for the new kittens. He had changed from the insecure scared kitten to a self assured, powerful and handsome young tom. And she had fallen head over heels for him. She would have said something, but he had been flirting a lot with Victoria lately. She knew that she didn't stand a chance against the petit white queen. She was just a freak, she scared most of the tribe, creped out many of the others, and was just plain ignored by the rest. Except by him. He never ignored her, was never scared or creped out by her. He was the only one outside her brother she could truly call her friend. Tantomile sighed. Her love life was typical. She had fallen in love with the only unreachable tom. But she wouldn't tell him and ruin their friendship. Not now._

Time Lapse

_He stared dully at the tall ginger tom in front of him. Macavity had been furious with the tuxedo tom for stopping his kidnapping plan at the last Ball, and now he was getting revenge. He had challenged Misto to a one-on-one duel with him or he would slaughter the whole tribe. Misto had accepted. There was no way he could win. _

_The tuxedo tom had fallen to his knees, completely spent and unable to defend himself with a broken arm. He could only watch as the Hidden Paw's claws flashed towards his unprotected throat. There was so much he had wanted to do, to say, to feel..._

_A wordless scream filled the air. A black, brown and grey blur jumped in front of the wounded magician. Misto screamed no, but was too late to stop the long, razor sharp claws from rending open Tantomile's chest, to stop her from jumping in front of him to save his life. It was the last straw. _

_Bolts of light flew to the Napoleon of Crime from all of the magic users in the tribe, and all of the power destroyed him. All that was left was a pile of ashes, blackened bones and the smell of burnt fur and meat. Misto crawled over to Tantomile, who by some miracle was still breathing. He could barely see through his tears. Tanto, her breathing ragged and harsh, locked eyes with him and smiled. She smiled, as her blood stained Misto, the ground, herself, everything a harsh, ugly red. She smiled and whispered "I love you. Always have. Always will. Remember me."_

_His eyes widened. A small cry of despair escaped his lips. "No! Tanto, you aren't going to die! I won't let you. Jenny and Jelly won't let you. Cori won't let you. I can't lose you, please, Tanto. I need you with me. Please... JENNY! JELLY! WHERE ARE YOU???"_

_The two matrons came and took her away. Misto tried to follow, but was stopped by a livid Coricopat. The tom had never like Misto, for reasons unknown. But he did. He growled at Misto, who stopped in his tracks, staring at the tom with tortured and confused eyes. The staring contest lasted for a few more seconds, until Coricopat spoke._

"_This is all you're fault."_

_He then turned on his heel and stalked off after his sister. He stopped any attempt by the tuxedo to go and check on Tanto. It was a week until Jenny finally took Misto to go see Tanto, even though Corico had protested violently. _

Misto still lay next to Tanto, tears streaming from his eyes. He heard movement, but he ignored it. He didn't care anymore. Tanto was going to die and it was all his fault. He should just die right now. He was too late. Too late to tell her, too late to find love, happiness. Too late.

"No."

Mistoffelees froze at that word. It was the one voice had thought he would never hear again. He sat up and spun around. Tantomile was looking at him, her eyes wide with some emotion he couldn't identify. Only one thing was in his mind: _She's alive!_

It only took one stride to get to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her body close to his. He whispered in her ear "Don't _ever_ die on me. I love you too much to lose you. I didn't know it before because I was blind. But now I can finally see." He pulled away just enough to look her in the eyes.

"You are the only thing that is keeping me in this life, Tantomile. I love you. I would be in the Heaviside Layer if you would agree to be my mate."

For a heartbeat, Tanto stared at him with shock. Only one whispered word escaped her lips.

"Yes."

Misto leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to hers. She tasted of everything he loved. He was in Heaviside.

But it couldn't last.

"What are you doing?" The iron cold voice made the two pull away from each other. They looked to the door and saw Coricopat standing there, his eyes blazing as he saw his sister in Misto's arms. He stalked forward, yanking Misto away from Tantomile.

"I knew that you would be trouble, that it was a bad idea to let you in here. I _knew_ it. You are the reason she almost died. What right have you to have anything to do with her after such a thing? As her brother and only remaining family, I order you to keep away from her. And you, Millie. If I find you anywhere near him, I _will_ lock you up."

Tantomile glared at her brother, and he flinched. When she spoke, her voice was ice cold.

"What you say is impossible. If you must blame someone, blame Macavity. If he hadn't attacked Misto, I would not have risked my life to save Misto. And you can not keep us apart. I have agreed to be Misto's mate, so I can not stay away from him. I love you, brother, but you can not keep me from Mistoffelees, no matter how much you hate him."

"You would choose him over me? An infatuation over family?"

"I am not infatuated. I am in love. And yes, I would choose Misto over you. I am sorry brother, but that is my choice. You must accept it."

Corico glared at Tanto for a few moments, then stormed out. The two were told later that day that he had left the tribe. At first, Tanto missed her brother terribly, and would often be found crying. Misto would always comfort her as best as he could. He knew how close his mate had been to her brother. For a time, he had been her only friend, not including Misto. But, time healed her wounds, both of her body and of her heart, and Tanto no longer cried over the brother who would have kept her from her soul-mate, for that is what she and Misto were, two cats who compleated each other, like no one else could. Corico never came back.

Misto and Tanto were mated a week after she was pronounced completely better. Every single one of their kittens had inherited their magical powers. And, years in the future, when Misto looked at his mate, he would always look back on that time as one of the best and worst times of his life. He had found the queen he loved, and almost lost her. But it all turned out well. He was glad he hadn't been too late to love.

**Okay. That turned out interesting. I will put the declaimer here. I own none of the cats. I want to be one of the cats, but I don't own them. I would ask you to read and review, but this is at the bottom, so to put the read part down would be stupid, and everyone asks the readers to review. I like the feedback, but if you don't then it's fine. I now have an account on FictionPress, under the name TaraTatianaEsmereldaCleopatra. It'd be nice if you check it out, but you will do as you do do, and there's no doing anything about it. (hehe) See ya later, enchilada!**


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